Police tracked husband after bodies washed up

April 20, 2003|By Knight Ridder/Tribune Newspapers.

MODESTO, Calif. — Ending a mystery that has transfixed the country since Christmas Eve, authorities said Friday that human remains that washed up on the muddy shore of the eastern San Francisco Bay are those of Laci Peterson and her unborn son.

Police also said that Laci Peterson's husband, Scott, was arrested in connection with the deaths of his wife and their child. He could be arraigned Monday on double homicide charges. James Brazelton, the Stanislaus County district attorney, said Scott Peterson will face special circumstances accusing him of committing multiple killings.

Appearing at the state crime laboratory in Richmond, California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said scientists had matched samples taken from the badly decomposed bodies to genetic material from Laci Peterson's husband and parents.

"There is no question in our minds that the unidentified female is Laci Peterson and the unidentified fetus is the biological child of Laci and Scott Peterson," Lockyer said.

No cause of death has been determined, Lockyer said.

He was notified of the DNA results early Friday afternoon. Modesto police and Laci Peterson's family found out a short time later, he said.

In news conferences in Richmond and Modesto, officials provided some of the details behind what had been an intense week that capped nearly four months of detective work.

He had been under constant watch since the bodies washed ashore Sunday and Monday in Richmond.

"As we pursued logical investigative leads, it became clear that it was important to keep track of Scott," said Modesto police Chief Roy Wasden.

Scott Peterson told police that on the day his wife went missing, he towed his boat to the Berkeley Marina to fish. He said his wife had planned to shop and walk their dog. A neighbor found the dog and his muddy leash that morning and returned him to the Peterson yard.

Hours later, Scott Peterson loaded his boat on a trailer at the marina and began the 80-mile trip home. He had called his wife, he told police, but no one answered.

The house was quiet when Scott Peterson returned.

"Nothing we found indicated that Laci left of her own free will," Wasden said. "After we posted a $500,000 reward . . . , if anyone knew where Laci was or that she was alive, we would have heard about it."